Pilgrimage Home
by Ash Gray Kitsune
Summary: When Zack passed away, he was left with a sword as his headstone, and a cairn for his remains. It takes one particular ninja to bring him back to the one he loved most...implied ZxA, Yuffie-centric


**Pilgrimage Home**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII.**

Yuffie cooed a little to the anxious pair of chocobos, and brought both huge beaks close, soothing the beasts with scratches and a few treats. She'd forgotten how wary the wastelands around Midgar made a person feel; the last time she'd been there, she'd been fighting, and there was no eerie silence pressing down. She glanced out over the bluffs again, reassuring herself that she really was alone with the large birds, and tugged the reins gently, leading the chocobos up the steep face of reddish-gray rock, a tall, rusted sword marking her destination. As she drew close, she frowned a little. Something had been digging at the cairn Cloud had made all those years ago, and she could clearly see dry, dusty bones scattered across the ground. She ground-tethered both birds, and crouched down, her quick fingers picking up each small shard, tucking them in a piece of expensive silk that she'd saved just for him.

"Damn, Zack. I wish you hadn't died...I wish you could have been there to save Aerith, to save Cloud from himself." She set the silk aside, and began pulling the stones away, careful not to let them tumble down the cliffside and blow her location. She didn't need looters and bandits right now. Ah...his leg bones. The fabric that had once encased his body fell to dust at her touch, and she brushed aside the fibers carefully, extracting three long leg bones. His feet were long ago, and she felt lucky that she'd been able to salvage his one hand. The other remained buried, so she had hopes...Over the course of the afternoon, Yuffie slowly excavated her old friend's grave, taking absolute care to set each stone just so, to revere every bone she found. Grief made her work all the better, and as she took a breath, settling back on her heels to relax and stretch her arms, she looked down at the pile of bones laid neatly beside her. All that was left was the skull, and then she could head north, away from this creepy hellhole and it's ghosts. She steadied herself, then picked the skull up out of the last rocks, her thumb graze those familiar cheek bones.

"I wish you would have been here for me." She whispered, feeling the pain still, despite the years. When SOLDIER had fallen...she'd been fool enough to get caught. Not by the scientists, though...by the Turks. Their friends, Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena had not been the ones to pick her up; if they had, she suspected that she'd have been imprisoned and maybe tortured a little, but not sadistically. Efficiently, but not out of cruelty. She understood that now, understood what that meant...and what the others were not. She closed her eyes to the memories, to the rape...she'd unconciously hugged Zack's skull to her chest, hot tears flowing down her cheeks. "Zack, you bastard, you should have saved me...you promised you'd save me..." She sobbed out, glaring down at the empty eyes...only to cry harder, in shame now.

"Oh Goddess, I'm sorry...Let's get you back where you belong." She murmured, pushing away the tears with the heel of one hand, wrapping the skull and the other bones in the dark blue fabric, and moved back to her chocobos. She would leave the rocks as they were; Cloud was in no condition to care anymore, and no one else cared enough to come up here. Some Turk named Kunsel had lent her the birds, and as she moved back to the sword, she was glad for the larger male. He could carry the sword; she could barely hold it up, and pulling it out of the ground took some doing, but finally, she levered it out of the rocks.

Strapping it to the side of the dun-colored bird, she then mounted the female with ease, and picked up the reins, turning her eyes to the north, then to the trail that led back to Kalm. It was time to go home, but first, she had to make a drop-off to the Northern continent. Aerith would appreciate that, she thought, and Vincent would let her stay for the night. Then she'd go back to Wutai, to the monarchy she'd left behind. One last tear made it's way down her face, and she had to smile to herself at the thought. Zack would be proud.


End file.
